


The Swan Princess

by charmedtomeetyou



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 11:12:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4433306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charmedtomeetyou/pseuds/charmedtomeetyou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Princess Emma and Lieutenant Killian Jones are cursed by a defeated Evil Queen so that they can never have their happy ending. Based loosely on an episode of Charmed called "Magic Hour." Originally posted on tumblr for CS AU week 2015 (Day 1 - alternative versions).</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Swan Princess

**Author's Note:**

> I don't usually write this much in fairy-tale style, but I really had fun doing it. Hope you enjoy!

Sunrise was her favorite time. It was her _only_ time, really, the one minute per day she felt _whole_.

Because it was her one minute with _him_. As humans, anyway.

 

Emma had been born a princess, a product of True Love, the purveyor of the strongest light magic, the _savior_. From the time of her birth she had a lot on her shoulders.

But her parents wouldn’t force on her that burden. When the Evil Queen was threatening the land with a curse, one the tiny princess was destined to break after 28 years, her parents refused to send her through the wardrobe, to banish her to the land without happy endings. She was _theirs_ , after all, and they couldn’t allow her to grow up alone. They wished they could trust the puppet to keep her safe, to guide her in the new land as he was charged, but they wouldn’t take the risk.

One of their spies revealed that the key ingredient in the Queen’s curse was the heart of the thing she loved most – and Snow, having been the stepdaughter of the Queen for many years, knew that title lay with Henry Mills, the Queen’s father. Charming sent guards to retrieve the old man, bringing him back to their castle and protecting him in an enchanted “dungeon,” meant to keep him comfortable while ensuring the safety of himself and the land.

The thwarted Queen was furious, and with the help of the fairies and some light sorceresses from neighboring kingdoms, they’d stripped the Queen of her powers and her title. The little princess was free to grow up as she deserved, being groomed for the throne while enjoying all the wonders of her kingdom.

 

Eventually the princess fell in love. One day when she was seventeen, she was shadowing her father, doing annual reviews of naval ships, when she accidentally collided with the ship’s lieutenant, knocking her to her knees.

“My apologies, sir! I wasn’t looking where I was going. I saw some dolphins… it’s silly, sir, my apologies.”

His eyes went wide as he offered his hand, recognizing that flowing blonde hair and glowing green eyes anywhere. He was horrified to have caused the princess any harm, even if by mistake.

“Your Highness! No, you mustn’t apologize. The fault is mine, princess. I was in a rush. Your father…”

“I promise he’s not as terrifying as he’ll have his soldiers believe, Lieutenant – ”

“Jones, your Highness, Killian Jones.” His deep blue eyes were still shaded with embarrassment, but his joy at meeting the princess still shone through.

“I’d like it if you’d call me Emma. No one really does.” She blushed, suddenly never so appreciative to have been knocked off her feet. Literally and figuratively.

“As you wish, _Emma_.”

After that day, the princess became much more involved with her father’s dealings with the Navy. Always offering to go to the docks, especially when a task required being in close proximity to the _Jewel of the Realm_ , the ship commanded by the Jones brothers. Her parents saw through her from the start – for being a grand _detector_ of lies, the princess surely wasn’t accomplished at actually telling them.

After several months of stolen glances and “accidental” brushes of fingers, loads of stammering and blushing, the Lieutenant finally asked Queen Snow’s permission to court her daughter. The Queen smiled, assuring him the only permission required was her daughter’s, and Emma burst forth from behind the wall she was using to hide, agreeing with enthusiasm.

After their third date, he finally kissed her, and after their fourth she declared to him her love. He announced his intention to propose the following night to his older brother (and Captain) and to her parents. All gave their blessings and he prepared for a wonderful evening that would culminate in his getting down on one knee and placing her mother’s ring on her finger.

But that’s not what came to pass. The Evil Queen, powerless herself and now cursed so that her exterior was a reflection of the evil within, walked the streets of the village looking like a poorly dressed old woman, her nose pointy and covered in moles, her skin sallow and wrinkled, her back hunched. She carried with her a basket of apples, imploring those around her to buy some so that she may have some coins for food and shelter.

Lieutenant Jones was a kind man and took pity on the woman as he passed her on his way to see the princess. The woman commented on the sparkling of his eyes, suggested that he buy an apple each for him and for the woman he was courting – she said she had a sixth sense for knowing when a man was in love. Emma loved crisp apples, so he purchased two, placing them in his satchel and going on his way. He was too besotted with the princess and too excited for what would happen that evening to hear the soft cackle coming from the former witch behind him. She might not have succeeded in destroying Snow’s happiness, but she’d be damned if she didn’t get some kind of revenge on her daughter.

The princess was eager to see him, so happy upon his arrival that she flung herself into his arms, crashing her body against his fully. The guards cleared their throats, a gentle reminder that a princess was not to behave as such. Lieutenant Jones chuckled and they sat down in the parlor, eager to enjoy the apples before he escorted her to the scene he’d prepared on the _Jewel_.

They bit into their apples at the same time, and no quicker had they noted the delicious flavor than they had both doubled over in pain. At the sounds of their cries, the guards came rushing over.

“Princess, what is it?” one called, placing his hand on her shoulder.

“Killian!” she screamed in response.

“Emma, love, I don’t know what – what’s happening,” he grunted out.

Another of the guards left in search of the medicine man, sure that their apples had been poisoned with something. But the medicine man would make no difference – Emma knew immediately the poison was of magical nature.

“Blue! Call the blue fairy,” she choked out, as Killian’s body started to shake. “Quickly!” she added.

Blue arrived almost immediately, but by then it was too late. The lieutenant’s body shook and shook until finally he collapsed, his form replaced by that of a large dog.

The princess started to cry, screaming out his name, still sick to her stomach from the magical poison. “What’s happened to him?” she cried to Blue as the fairy hovered around his snout.

“’Twas the Evil Queen, your Highness. She aims to take away your True Love to avenge the death of her own. As you know, she blames your mother.”

“So she made him a dog? Is that what’s going to happen to me next?”

“No, your Highness. It’s a fate far worse. For one full day he will remain in dog form while you are human. And at next sunrise, he will morph back to being a human just as you morph into a _swan_. Forever separated, save for just a moment each day.”

 

The princess swore all the guards who witnessed to secrecy – in addition to the fairy and the medicine man who’d just arrived – telling only her parents, who cried with her for hours as she stroked the dark dog’s fur. His eyes were still the same, the deepest blue, and he was always looking at her apologetically when she dared make eye contact. _It’s not your fault, my love_ , she repeated over and over again.

Many in the kingdom had known the princess to be courting the lieutenant, but the palace spread word that the pair had separated amicably. From that day forward, the princess was often seen (though not _every_ day) walking about with a new companion, a knighted shepherd dog said to be appointed to protect her. And the lieutenant, he spent much time on his ship and at the docks, often spotted near a majestic white swan.

Just before each sunrise the human and the animal would meet in a cottage behind the castle, waiting for first light when they could hold one another, kiss ever-so-briefly before the other morphed again.

The King and Queen were constantly researching the plight that had befallen their daughter and her love. With the Evil Queen powerless, they knew the enchantment had come from another, so they hesitantly and regretfully consulted with Rumplestiltskin, the all-powerful Dark One.

“Ah, yes, that’s one of my more _creative_ ills, don’t you think?” His snake-like eyes glinted and his golden scaly skin shone as he flourished his hands in glee.

“Change them back, imp,” the King demanded.

“Or _what_ , your Highness?” the Dark One challenged. “Besides, you know as well as I that _True Love_ can break any curse!”

The princess and her dog had been eavesdropping on the conversation and she broke down in tears when she heard Rumplestiltskin’s “simple” solution. The dog rubbed his head against her knee, trying to console her.

“You heard him, Killian. We kiss _every_ morning. If we were actually True Loves we wouldn’t be like this anymore!”

The Queen heard her daughter’s squeal and excused herself, only to see the princess running down the hall, locking herself in a spare room – leaving her loyal dog behind. The Queen knocked and the dog yelped, but Emma didn’t leave the room for days, even in swan form.

She wasn’t enough, she thought. If she left Killian alone, even though he’d only have half his days to himself, he’d be able to meet a good girl, fall in love – truly this time – and that other girl could break his curse. He’d get his happy ending, she was sure of it.

Killian was no better off. He never left the _Jewel_ anymore, his brother only permitted to enter his quarters when he was in dog form to provide him with enough food to sustain him. Emma was the only thing he wanted or needed – True Love or not – and he couldn’t bear that she was refusing him.

A week after Rumplestiltskin’s visit, the princess finally decided to leave her confinement. The lieutenant hadn’t tried to come by again – she believed he had taken her orders and had started to move on. So when sun rose and she burst into soft feathers, she took to the water, the freest she would probably ever feel again.

It was nearing sunset when she saw the scuffle, just outside a tavern by the docks. Several men in leather, drunk and stumbling down the lane, were threatening villagers, taking their money and valuables. A soldier was coming toward them – her Killian, she quickly noted – attempting to stop their antics, to protect the innocent people from the pillaging. The pirates were laughing, tormenting him. One drew a sword on the unarmed lieutenant and lunged.

Before Emma could form a coherent thought, she’d somehow drew on the magic lying dormant in her soul and teleported her swan self between Killian and the pirate, his sword piercing her, staining her feathers red. The pirates, shocked by her appearance, ran the other direction, leaving the lieutenant clutching the dying bird.

“Help! Help! Blue, please!” he shouted, trying to put pressure on her wound, to keep her breathing. A small crowd had gathered, confused at the man’s sobbing – the bird was beautiful, sure, but it was _just_ a bird.

At that moment there was a great pulse radiating from the swan, sending a rainbow rippling across the kingdom. When Killian looked down again, it was the princess lying in his arms instead.

“Emma, my love! Hold on, please hold on. We’ll find you some help, darling. Please don’t leave me.”

“Killian?” she asked, confused at her ability to speak.

Through the noise of the crowd (who had now recognized the bleeding swan-turned-woman as the princess), Killian heard the tinkling sound of magic, proof that his pleas to Blue had been heard.

“Can you save her, Blue? Please, _please_ she can’t die.”

The fairy waved her wand, causing blue sparks of magic to fall across the body of the princess. Her white dress remained stained with blood, but the wound below it was immediately closed. Killian couldn’t contain his joy, hugging her tight and pressing kisses to her forehead and cheek.

“But… how?” Emma asked, looking dumbfounded up at the fairy. “We aren’t True Love or else our kisses would have worked.”

“You know, my dear, some curses are built too strong for something so simple as a _kiss_ to break it. Rumplestiltskin crafted this one with a bit more power behind it. Knowing that you’d assume a _kiss_ would break it – because that’s all it had taken for your parents – meant you’d lose hope, truly making yourselves miserable, just as he and the Evil Queen had wanted.”

The lieutenant’s features were still marred with confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“The curse required an _act_ of True Love. When the swan princess attempted to sacrifice herself to save you, the curse was broken.”

The princess began sobbing into Killian’s jacket, so taken aback with happiness.

“ _Swan Princess_ … I quite like the sound of that,” he chuckled before reaching into inner pocket of his jacket. “Emma, my Swan, will you do the honor of marrying me?”

He presented her with the shining green ring, the two of them still lying in the middle of the street. “I’d prepared a much grander proposal, I assure you, but I think I’ve learned my lesson on what waiting can cause you.”

The lieutenant’s smile was beaming as the princess held out her left hand, offering her somewhat shaky finger for him to slip the ring on.

Emma wanted to kiss him in earnest, then, but knew she couldn’t since they were being observed by quite a few of her subjects. Recalling the magic she’d accessed just minutes before, she waved her hand and in a _poof_ , she and Killian were back in the parlor of the castle, leaned against one another on a bench.

The guards were shocked – both by their sudden appearance and their very inappropriate display of affection – but seeing the ring glinting from her finger, they made no move to stop them.

“Shall I take your enthusiasm as a _yes_ , my swan?”

“Of course, my puppy dog.”

They burst into laughter (the guards even joining in).

“Never call me that again,” the lieutenant insisted, doing his best to look stern rather than amused.

“As you wish, _Killian._ ”


End file.
